


Court of Time

by lurking_dragon



Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Dreen Gift, Gen, Jaegers, One-Shot, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 08:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17639381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lurking_dragon/pseuds/lurking_dragon
Summary: In which a Dreen chooses a Gift with a heart bigger than her sense of duty.





	Court of Time

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Gift of the Dreen](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16448273) by [phoenixyfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixyfriend/pseuds/phoenixyfriend). 



I don’t regret what I did. I only wish I had been able to succeed. 

Hi, I’m Mary. I’m 18 years old. I was supposed to be here to keep Charlemagne Greenclaw from being assassinated because he walked over to someone calling him and the dart meant to kill him missed. Instead, I ended up frozen in time because I tried to help the Jaegers.

I’m still angry about that. The Jaegers loved the Heterodynes! They were so sad when the Heterodyne Boys rejected them! Why couldn’t I tell them about  _ Court of Sins, _ when Bill’s daughter Agatha comes back and she loves them! They needed  _ hope, _ I could give that to them!

Sorry. Like I said, still angry. 

So. Um. 

Sorry, I’m not good at talking to people. I never was, really, but the enforced isolation didn’t help. I wasn’t even allowed to talk to Denkatt, the Gift in the basement; the Dreen were very emphatic about it possibly breaking the timeline... 

Maybe I should start at the beginning.

When I got dropped into Mechanicsburg--no, wait, it started before that. When I got recruited as a Dreen-Gift, I spent some time being talked at in a four-dimensional briefing room with the most  _ humorless _ eldritch being I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. I was given a rundown of my job: be in the right place at the right time to save Charlemagne Greenclaw, don’t break the timeline, listen to warnings, stop drawing on your hand, those are good S̷̫̏h̸̜͕͚́̍͝a̷̼̭̺̍r̴̪̺̫͚͈͗̎̕͠p̵̦̪͛̍͘i̴̗̮̇͆͘ë̸̙̦̹́̊s̷̖͚̈́̓, don’t talk to Denkatt because you might break the timeline, don’t let anyone know you’re a Gift because it might break the timeline. Fun times.  _ Then  _ I got dropped into Mechanicsburg, about a month before I had to act. 

Big problem: I don’t speak Romanian. Oh, I know the words for “milk” and “cow” and “get back here, you stupid pig,” but that comes from being stuck in a barn. At first, I didn’t even know those. This was, as you can guess, Extremely Overwhelming. So my first few minutes in Mechanicsburg were spent hiding behind a dumpster and sobbing. I’d like to think it was justified, but I’ve cried over stupid stuff before, so I’m not really sure. Then again, if anything is worth crying about because it’s overwhelming and unexpected, it’s being dropped somewhere you don’t speak the language and expected to do a job. 

Really, my downfall started about then. Because the first person who came across me  _ and  _ spoke English was a Jaeger. I’d tell you his name, but I’ve inherited my dad’s memory for names--or really, his lack of it. The Jaeger was very nice, and talked me down, and he complimented my hat and the stuff I’d drawn on my hand while listening to the Dreen. The hat didn’t deserve it--it’s a battered old costume cowboy hat--but the drawings gave me an idea of how I would survive until my job was done. 

So, I became a street artist. I put my hat at my feet and scrounged up paper and pen and drew people for a couple coins. I ended up chatting with a lot of Jaegers, because I needed to learn how to draw hats better and Jaegers are really easy ways to get hat practice. They didn’t show up much in  _ Court of Gears, _ just around as minor characters. The books didn’t capture their vivacity, their loyalty to the Heterodyne family, their personalities. I quickly grew to love the Jaegers even more than I loved the Sins.

Look, the Sins may be robots, but they’re  _ awesome _ robots. I might have written fanfiction about them eventually, if I hadn’t been recruited to be a Dreen-Gift. 

Anyway. I loved the Jaegers. But as time went on, I noticed that they all looked kind of wistful whenever the current Heterodynes were mentioned. Except for that Vole guy, who was mentioned to have been discharged in disgrace in  _ Court of Serpents _ . Vole just looked angry. I finally asked Ms. Dinreel, because I still couldn’t read Romanian beyond the price of my favorite food at the local food stand and Ms. Dinreel was nice and reminded me of my bunny, and I got the whole story. 

I knew that the Old Heterodynes had been the type of people to let their local mafia run in plain sight. I knew that the current Heterodynes, Bill and Barry, were not the type of people to let their local mafia run in plain sight. I didn’t know that they’d rejected the Jaegers and spent all their time off being heroic. Good for them, I guess, but not every Jaeger is Vole!

The more I thought about it, the worse I felt for the Jaegers. And I didn’t even know how to help them--I couldn’t go around hugging strangers, even if I didn’t have a semi-official job, and I certainly couldn’t scold people way older and more experienced than me. 

It was while I was waiting for someone to come along and commission me, staring up at the spires of Castle Heterodyne, that it hit me. In the last book,  _ Court of Sins, _ Bill’s daughter Agatha Heterodyne showed up, and the older people in the Court of Gears planned to kill her in case she was like her father. But according to one of Hadrian Greenclaw’s love interests, Vanamonde Heliotrope, she wasn’t! She loved Mechanicsburg, and she loved the Jaegers! I could tell them about Agatha, give them hope! 

I guess that counted as something that needed a warning. I quantum destabilized and dropped my pen. I remember my heart beating really really fast because I thought it was gonna fall in the gutter and be lost. But someone caught it and asked me to draw them a sunset, so all was well. 

I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, though. Especially when I was wandering around, trying to find where Castle Heterodyne had put my favorite food stand this time (I swear, the place knew I was a Gift and liked messing with me), and I found Mamma Gkika’s, the bar where the Jaegers hung out. I could burst in and make a dramatic announcement to a bunch at once!

I destabilized and nearly walked through a wall before I had to sit down.  _ Or not. _

At this point, I probably should have given it up, at least until I had helped save Charlemagne Greenclaw. But now that I had a way to help, I couldn’t just sit and  _ not _ help. Especially when I saw Jaegers every day, and I loved them. In my head, I knew that they were supposed to be the Heterodyne’s personal army of monsters, and had done terrible things. But their Heterodynes had rejected them, and they were so goofy, and they were all  _ people. _ I love people! Not necessarily being around them, I’m an introvert, but I care for people because they are people! I couldn’t just sit by and watch them suffer! 

I also get very ranty, haha. 

So, the night before I was supposed to save Charlemagne, I just couldn’t sit still anymore. I used to walk in circles listening to music, but even if I had an MP3, it would have run out of battery by now. I’d also talked with some Jaegers who I consider my friends (even though I was probably more of a nuisance who could draw their hats well), and my mind was made up. I was gonna tell the Jaegers about Agatha. 

The Dreen, naturally, did not approve. The closer I got to the bar, the more painful the destabilization got. But I’ve spent time building up my endurance and my ability to go on through hardship. 

Just as I was about to turn the last corner, a Dreen appeared in front of me. It was the same humorless Dreen that had given me my briefing. “Ÿ̶͕́o̶̙͋̿u̸̼̍ ̸̦̆m̸̥u̶̫̔̏s̵͖̱t̵͔͊ ̶̦͗͘ẗ̸̜̤͠u̷̺̎̉r̶̖̰̽̓n̶̦͝ ̷̼̦̐b̴͙̠̑ạ̸͔̑c̷͖̗̔͝k̴̳͋̃ **.”**

I didn’t turn back. I pulled myself to my full 5’2” height and gritted my jaw. “No.” 

**“** T̷͕h̷̑ͅi̵͆͜s̸̗̎͑ ̶̥̦̎͂ȉ̶̗̇s̶̛͔̉ ̷͉͇͠y̴̰̔́͜ỏ̶̞̀ǘ̸͈̮̚r̴̢̖̔ ̸͈͊̈f̸̩̏̓ĩ̴̮n̶̛͓͓a̴̗̭̚l̴̜͒ ̷̹́ͅw̵͇͉̒͝a̷̼̜̅̉r̵̉̏͜n̵̮̔̈i̴̩̤͋͘n̵̖͒͊ǵ̴̣͗ **.”**

“I don’t care!” I dodged around the Dreen and started toward the bar. “But I bet you know that feeling. You don’t even care enough to tell them about--!” 

And that was when I got frozen. 

The Dreen moved me out of Mechanicsburg. I guess they were worried I’d talk to Denkatt when I got bored. I know  _ why _ they don’t want us talking now; they don’t want us cooking up ideas for revenge if we ever get unfrozen. I’m in a barn now, hidden in a shadowy corner in the loft. 

I’ve lost track of time. I don’t remember how long I’ve been statued. 

If they don’t know already… tell the Jaegers about Agatha? Please?

I don’t want to die in vain.

**Author's Note:**

> So there's my contribution to the Dreen-Gift story!  
> Dinreel is an OC belonging to ScribeProtra, and she has bunny ears. Thus, resemblance to bunny.  
> Zalgo text, in case it's too hard to read:  
> First instance: "Sharpie"  
> Second instance: "You must turn back."  
> Third instance: "This is your final warning."


End file.
